HAI Responds to Budget 2021

Hardware Association Ireland (HAI) has welcomed some of the measures introduced in this year’s Budget, which Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe described as “unprecedented in both size and scale in the history of the Irish State.”.

Earlier this year HAI published its Pre-Budget 2021 Submission, which comprised the four pillars of the Rebuilding our Future Plan  and included ambitious recommendations to support home renovation, retrofitting, upskilling/reskilling and housing market stimulation, with additional recommendations for the Timber and Fuel sectors.

In our initial reponse we are please see the introduction of a number of measures following our recommendations. We will respond further once more detail is made available in the coming days.

• Retrofitting: A National Home Retrofitting Scheme to allow retrofitting of homes pre-2006 to bring up them up a BER rating of B2, plus an additional €65 million for deep retrofitting of social and affordable homes
• Support for those Buying a Home: The extension of the Help to Buy Scheme for a further two years, at the higher max of €30,000 rate, however we would have liked to have seen 2nd hand homes introduced to the scheme to offer more avenues to market for homebuyers
• Upskilling and Reskilling of the Sector: A €120 million package for reskilling and retraining including an extension of the apprenticeship scheme.

We look forward to liaising with the Government and other key contacts in the coming days as the above measures are rolled out, as we look ahead to Rebuilding the Future of the Irish hardware and building materials and construction sectors.